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Friday, April 30, 2010

Greetings Earthlings. Sorry, I was watching The Coneheads the other day and it just carried over. Here we are again, another week has gone by and it is time for Quick Takes. Oh the joy! Oh the rapture! Remember to click on the picture above to be transported, just like James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise, over to Conversion Diary to read the rest of what everyone has been up to.

Beam me up Scotty (I think I have been watching too much Star Trek).

1.If I was ever going to get a tattoo this is what I would get. Don’t worry HHBL and progeny, I am not actually going to GET a tattoo although it is appealing, well except for the whole pain thing and the fact that I would have to pay money to have it done. Money that could be spent on actual yarn.

But anyways, if I WAS going to get a tattoo this would be it. This comes from a FB friend, Lola, and was originally photographed at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

Oh man I love this tattoo. It just calls to me.

2.This weekend we are actually home all weekend. Yes! We have been doing some traveling and so it is a good feeling to be home for the weekend. Of course, I think that there is some call for rain but we will hope not. HHBL is pitching on Sunday and I don’t want anything to interfere with baseball!! I have to have my baseball fix.

Of course, this weekend we really should catch up on some things that haven’t been done around the house. Well, really the only thing that hasn’t been done is we haven’t put the screens in the windows and that will take about 30 minutes of work.

3.With all this house selling business I am still, daily, trying to put everything in perspective and not get all hyperasphixsilated (yes that is a word, MY word) about living in a model home that always must be picked up. We had a showing on Wednesday, or what we thought was a showing. It turned out to be only a broker who says she is going to be listing the house next door. She said some things about our house that made my blood boil. The funny thing is her line that made me the most furious was, “….and it could do with a good cleaning.”

Excuse me?????

My house is disgustingly clean. The freaking baseboards are all spotless and no one ever even looks at those. I blew a small gasket deep in my cerebral cortex when I read that line.

HHBL looked at me and said, “I knew that was going to bother you.”

He was so right on that.

4. Can I tell you how I hate it when I buy knitting needles and then realize, when they arrive, that they are the wrong cable length. And knitting needles, at least ones that are purchased online from Knit Picks, cannot be returned. RATS. I can limp along with the 0’s and 1’s with the 16 inch cables but I thought I had ordered 24 inchers. The needles on the 16 inch cables are shorter and a bit harder to work with. Rats, rats and double rats. That is what I get for ordering in haste.

Order in haste, repent in leisure.

5. Do you ever have those days when you think you have accomplished something, you are patting yourself on the back for you ingenuity and super-human cranial capacity……and then someone else points out that, no, it STILL isn’t done quite right and are you using guidelines on that Illustrator file.

Ummmmmm, well maybe no….but it is only because I didn’t know I was supposed to and I will figure out what a guideline is and how to use it in just a minute.

I am still learning Illustrator. It is sort of like me learning to fly a 757 by sitting in the pilot’s seat, after the plane has taken off and just flying by figuring out when things go wrong. It makes for an interesting, if somewhat headache and terror producing ride.

If I could get my head above water at some point I may be able to just read and play with the thing to see what all I can do with it.

6.I am sorry but these guys are just too funny. I have seen at least one other in this video series and it always makes me laugh. I don’t know how they thought them up but it is just….

just…..

just…. hilarious.

7.Today may be a day where a great deal of knitting and reading are part of the make up. I am still deciding. Gone are the days when I would read all day just because I wanted to. I got married, I had kids, I went to work for HHBL. It isn’t that I am too busy to schedule those kinds of days. I can schedule my days however I choose for the most part. I work from home and if my work for HHBL is accomplished then I can move on to other things.

No, it is my own overly regimented gray matter that stops me and says, “Deb, you know that sitting and reading for large swaths of time isn’t productive. You must be up and moving and doing things. That is the way to show that you aren’t a boil on the butt of society.”

No, today I will override the overachiever in me and read….and knit….and maybe pull some weeds.

I just can’t help it OK!! I have to do something to validate my existence.

Have a great week all. And go do nothing for a bit. It will be good for you.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

I love traditions. I think that they give us a sense of connection. Connection to family, to friends, to other generations. Even if it is a tradition that we ourselves haven’t participated in, it still brings a bond with “the mystic chords of memory”. OK, who knows where that quote is from? I know, but I want to see if you do.

Now back to the post.

This past weekend we were privileged to participate in a long standing tradition. Something that many young couples who attend Wheaton College are able to do if they become engaged while students. My parents did this and quite possibly the Grandparents as well (they are all Wheaton College grads). Notice I didn’t include myself and HHBL. That is because neither of us graduated from Wheaton. There has to be someone who rebels you know.

So, the tradition is that at Wheaton College, if you become engaged, you can ask to ring the bell that resides at the top of Blanchard. There is a set pattern of rings, 3 set of 7 rings, that signals that you are engaged. I think I got that correct. There was a set of bells for engagement and another set for marriage and……

Well sometimes I lead a fuzzy and confusing life. So if I got that wrong then I am SURE that someone will set me straight. Someone always does.

Now TEO and TASiL have been engaged for a year but they were just getting around to this. There were other things that sort of took up space in their lives. Things like studying in Africa and India for long months. And life in general seemed to get in the way. But as TEO said, “better late than never”. Yup, they were squeaking in just under the old graduation/marriage line.

The bell ringing happened to fall on the same day as Grandma Amsler’s memorial. It sort of felt like appropriate bookends to the day. Celebrating the end of a life well lived and celebrating the beginning of a life together.

WE were all on time……but we had to wait a bit for Brystal, one of the bridesmaids. She is not known for her punctuality.

Can I tell you how much I love Blanchard? I grew up visiting this building. My Grandpa Pringle taught in the Education Department at Wheaton for 25 years and even though the building was renovated a number of years ago it still smells exactly the same as when I was a small child. It is a blast from the past to enter. I am back there, going into Grandpa’s office or going to one of his classes where he would stand me on the table and have me recite The Pledge of Allegiance for his student teachers.

Up, up, up you go to the top floor. Then through the door and up the metal stairs which puts you just under the roof of the building. Don’t worry about what looks like graffiti, that is all legal.

The rope goes right up through the roof to the bell tower. There is another set of stairs that leads to the actual bell tower, where I understand the “bell ringing” used to take place. But as with many things, the access is now denied and the bell ringing is done is a safer and less photogenic place. We tried, believe me, but we were kept out of the secret special place. Rats.

And after the actual ringing of the bell then it is time to add your names to the names that cover the walls, and the beams, the doors and the floors, the pipes and the stairs and even in one case, the fluorescent light bulb. Some of the couples are very creative when making their mark on this section of Blanchard. There are tee shirts that have been altered and pictures and small posters and then there was this beauty Very Clever!

TEO and TASiL elected to go the Sharpie Marker route. It took a bit to find just the right spot but they did. The “5E and 1W” in the little heart reflects the floors that they lived on their Freshman year. They were on brother/sister floors that year. Awwwwwww.

Then it was back down all the stairs and out into the damp and misty day.

And then HHBL felt compelled to re-enact that famous clip from the movie Titanic……

I’m King of the World!!!

For some reason everyone else quickly left the area. I am not sure why.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

And I don’t mean whiskey. I mean coffee. That wonderful beverage that so many of us just have to have in order for our day to go as it should.

So, on my birthday last month, for my first Facebook update of the morning I wrote something about coffee, or as I like to call it, “the elixir of life”. It was my birthday, I get up early, I make my coffee….you get the picture.

And then a couple of days later I wrote another one. It was funny, I was enjoying it.

And then next day I did another one….

And the day after that…..

and then I just got sucked in to doing one every morning. I would wake up and when I sat down at my computer I would have one all ready in my head.

And then other people told me that they looked for these little elixir updates each morning.

And now I can’t get off the “Elixir of Life train”. I have people counting on me.

So I thought that I would share them with you. It is pitiful I know. I should have something pithy to tell you. Some pictures to astound you with.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

So this weekend we made a quick trip out to Illinois for Elizabeth Julia Mortenson Amsler’s (aka Grandma) memorial service. She actually went home to the Lord in February but we held off on her memorial service, per her wishes, until the weather was better.

I love family get togethers and this one was particularly excellent because I saw cousins that I hadn’t seen in a long time. A. LONG. TIME.

Of course there was food. There is always food when we are at these family gatherings. There is always LOTS of food. It seems to grow and grow and grow. But the worst thing in the world would be to run out of something.

Trust me….we didn’t.

There were babies, or actually baby, to be hugged and kissed. It was nice to get my “baby fix” without actually have to take him home. Thomas was excellent the whole time. As his mom, Kathy, says, “He is really happy….until he isn’t”. I never saw the “isn’t” part and I think it is lies, all lies I tell you. This is Pilot Man getting his Thomas fix. Hmmmmmm, there seems to be a resemblance there. Must be a family thing.

There were cousins that I hadn’t seen in, like, 25 years. We would look at each other and go, “Ummm, Ohhhhhh, Hey HI!” We all look EXACTLY the same as the last time that we saw each other. EXACTLY the same I tell you. The person on the left is my Aunt Sue, who is only 6 years older than I so she is really more of a sister. She lived with us for 3 years when she was in college. We had fun. We tried to avoid eating liver. It was a monthly battle that we often lost. I see Sue on a regular basis (Hi Sue!). The person on the right is Nona Beth who I hadn’t seen in, in, in I think 25 years. It was a long time. But we knew each other and we visited and it was so nice that I wish she lived closer.

OK, so maybe you are by now bored silly with the picture of the relatives. But remember, my blog.

There was a lot of picture taking going on. Are you surprised by this? If you are then you haven’t been hanging around here much. Jon taking picture of me Me taking picture of Jon. His camera has less “pixel” capacity hence the fuzzy picture of me. But then I sort of lead a fuzzy life so perhaps this is appropriate. Certainly the hair was fuzzy that day with all the humidity.

After a wonderful time of eating and eating and eating and visiting and visiting and visiting it was off to the cemetery for the interment.

No respect. I get no respect. Sitting next to The Shoe Queen is her cousin Summer. In a great twist of irony Shoe Queen and Summer had never met each other….until last fall we realized that Summer was going to be Shoe Queen’s dorm RA. Too funny.

We had a wonderful service. Rev. Jones was Grandma’s pastor in Assisted Living and had been her friend for many years. He captured well her always sunny and encouraging nature. Her humor in all situations. Her love for the Lord and her caring spirit for others. I wished that I had a piece of paper or recorder so that I could recall all that he said. I will just have to remember the spirit of it in my heart. And as has been our pattern with family gatherings my cousins Tim and Jon performed a musical number for us. And then we sang. 50+ people singing. It was lovely. Grandma would have clapped her hands together and declared it wonderful.

And then, of course, we needed to take a picture. Remember I come from a family where many of us have our cameras permanently attached to our bodies. It is the way that we roll. Imagine my horror to find that my camera battery was dead. Thank goodness for cousin Jon whose camera was fully ready to take up the challenge of getting all of us into one picture. Sort of like herding cats. All solid citizens for sure.

Grandma we will miss you. But we know that the parting is not for eternity. We will be together again, singing songs of joy to our Lord. But until that time we have our memories. And that will just have to do.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Monday is my shopping day. I might have mentioned it before….or not. Monday has been my shopping day for 25 years. I like structure in my life.

I like my routine.

Don’t mess with my routine. I know the people at Wally Mart. I go through Janet’s line whenever I can. I am a creature of habit.

OK, enough about my rigidity and oddness. Now back to what I did this morning because I just couldn’t help myself

It is raining today. Normally I love a rainy day (oh, I can hear Eddie Rabbit playing in my head). I love the look and feel of it. I love to be inside, or outside. Whatever. But today I am just beat.

I am wiped out.

I am ready for bed and it is only 1:30p.

I needed something to look forward to. Some bright spot in my day that would make me go…

YES! I can do this. I can get through until I make another cup of the elixir of life later on.

I went to Wally Mart as is the usual Monday thing (see above). I had my list. I was proceeding through my Wally Mart routine. If I need something from the “non-food” side of the store I go there first. Then down to the back and progress my way up from back to front. That is the most efficient way to do it. And I like to be efficient.

I learned that when I was working as a nurse on an oncology unit. You really had to be efficient when you…..

Hmmmm? What? The point of this post?

Oh right. Sorry. The gloominess of the day sort of zorked out my brain for a minute there.

Just kidding on that last one. We were watching “War Games” this weekend and I thought I would throw that in.

I was making progress.

And then it happened. I saw it. It was sitting there in the deli aisle in and amongst the cheese and other things. I heard it whisper my name softly.

Seductively.

Longingly.

It was………Braunschweiger (I may have spelled that wrong but who cares). Or as you might also know it….liverwurst.

Oh be still my beating heart. Oh how I love the liverwurst. I love your texture. Your spreadability. Your taste and smell. The heavens opened. The angels sang.

It makes no sense that I love liverwurst because the thing that it is made out of, liver, is a tool of the devil and should be outlawed. It makes no sense.

I stood there for a moment in total indecision.

Should I get it? That is a really big hunk. I will never eat all of it and if I do then I for sure will die of a heart attack in a week.

No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes……….YES!

I quickly put it in my cart before the bad food police took it from me. I didn’t even look at the fat and calorie label on the side because that takes all the fun out of it. I already know that it isn’t good for me. I don’t need to be reminded about it thankyouverymuch.

I went through Janet’s line. I paid for my hunk of heart attack in a tube. I rushed home and cut a nice piece of crusty bread.

Spread the liverwurst on. Top with slice of sweet pickle.

Nirvana for a rainy day.

Please excuse my really horrible looking cuticles and nail. I have been neglecting them. But there are mani/pedi’s in my future. I can hardly wait.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Here we are again, as we are every week. Looking back over the week at those little snippets that don’t get their own blog post. Remember to click on the picture to zoom over to Conversion Diary to read all the other posts. I command you to do it! 1.
Do you ever wonder about friends that you had growing up that you have lost touch with? Ever feel like you have unfinished business with them? I do. There aren’t too many but there are a few, two in fact and I would love to know where they are and what they are doing. Kathy Strenski where are you? We share the same birthday. I spent many an hour swimming in your pool and just hanging around. Then I moved to the other side of town and we went to separate high schools and that was it. Where are you?
And then there is Carla Karolek. Do you ever have someone who isn’t, perhaps, a close friend but that perhaps should be? And that it is hard for you to be friends with that person because, frankly, they are perfect even at a young age? Well that was Carla. And I have a feeling that I wasn’t all that nice to her at times. Carla where are you?2.
When the wedding shower was done last Saturday we had excess helium balloons just hanging around my parents sunroom. What to do, what to do.
Well of course we set them free. They wanted to fly so we obliged them. Oh No! Stuck! Wait for me!!!
We take our fun where we can find it.3.
We had a company staff dinner on Wednesday night and I am still wallowing in fullness. I am sorry, I didn’t take a single picture of what I ate but it was all really good.
We ate at RJ Bolands downtown Cleveland and it was excellent. If you are downtown you need to go, believe me. They were so wonderful and funny and helpful. And maybe I have that glowing impression of them because I had a really great glass of Magic Hat #9 beer. It was excellent. They brought out a whole raft of different appetizers. I would have polished off the fried calamari myself but I decided at the last minute that I probably should share with the others. It was hard but I made myself.
Then I had to order something for dinner so I had the Tomato Bruschetta hamburger and it was excellente! But my poor little intestinal system doesn’t usually have that much red meat all at one sitting so it was barking at me later. TMI?
And I am still full.4.
I haven’t talked at all recently about the ongoing knitting that is happening here at Chez Knit. I am, as usual, happily knitting on the latest socks, I call them Deb’s Sparkly Heels and Toes. I am loving them. But they have been put aside for the moment because I have taken on a project that must be completed before the wedding. After buying the MOBD I decided that I needed some kind of wrap to wear so that I don’t get cold. And of course, since I do knit on occasion I decided that I would make myself something.
A large lace wrap in less than 4 weeks? Sure!!! Of course I had to go out and get the yarn right then and there. And then I had to cast on right away (which was last Thursday). And then everything ground to a halt and I almost threw up my hands in misery and quit. I cast on….I frogged back…..I cast on……I frogged back.
I know I shouldn’t cast on a big project in the evening. I don’t get things right. And I didn’t. I realized the next morning that I was reading the pattern incorrectly. Once I figured out what I was doing wrong it has been smooth sailing. The Woodland Shawl is half way done and she is going to look just marvelous!5. So we were sitting at the breakfast table at the parental unit’s house the day after the shower. We are chatting as we eat our sausage and fruit. And all of a sudden Mimi says, “Oh, look at that bird on the feeder!”
We all pause, forks half way to our mouths and look and this is what we see…. A peregrine falcon sitting on the bird bath. He/She sat there long enough for both Papa and I to get our cameras and take a bazillion pictures. Well, I took a bazillion, he usually gets the pictures right the first time. I just hedge my bets. Sort of a belt and suspenders kind of thing.6. I had sort of a “mojo takes a vacation” kind of day on Tuesday. The mojo was a no show in this household. I had a list of things a mile long that needed to be done. I accomplished some things first thing in the morning and then….I just packed it in for the day and sat on the couch and read and knit.
Sometimes you just have to do that for your mental health.
I have found, as I have become an adult (no really, I am an adult, when I want to be) that I have trouble just telling myself that it is OK to sit down and read for an afternoon. I love to read. I love it more than my luggage (to quote The Pioneer Woman). But there is always something else around here that needs my attention. And to give myself permission to just sit and read for an entire afternoon seems like such a luxury. But sometimes we just have to do it.
So I did.
And I felt better.

7. We travel back out the Illinois this weekend for my Grandmother Amsler’s memorial. We will all gather on Saturday morning, all 50+ of us, for some noshing at Mimi and Papa’s house. We will then go over to the cemetery for the interment of her ashes and a small service. Then a meal together at the church.
A celebration of a life well and truly lived. I will tell you all about it next week. And I might even have a picture or two to go with.
Have a great week everyone.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Last weekend found us out in Illinois, which is where TEO and TASiL attend school and are getting married. What is a wedding without a wedding shower right? And this one was great because I had nothing to do with the planning. I just had to show up.

My mother, Mimi, and TEO’s roomies did all the planning. That is the kind of party that I like. I just had to make some cookies…that saga will be for another post…and help with some of the last minute cooking and then do the whole mother of the bride thing.

The table was set. I love these dishes, I think Mimi has had them as long as I can remember. We have certainly used them for a lot of family parties that is for sure.

Last minute cutting of bread for those little froufy sandwiches that are a part of wedding showers. Lots of crusts left. Mimi suggested that we could make a whole bunch of Egg in a Holes for breakfast.

I shot that thought right down I can tell you. Egg in a Hole is an invention of the devil sent to make sure that breakfast is made uneatable. I like eggs. I like toast. I don’t like them combined. Well, except in Egg Strada which has eggs and bread AND sausage in it. I will add that to the recipe list because I know you will like it.

The tiny person on the right is my sis-in-law, The Chef (she earned that name by…..training as a chef). She is making one of my favorite things in the whole world. She is making these…

Oh I love these things. They are called “salbutes” and I can only have them when The Chef makes them because it is a recipe that she cannot share. I know that she would if she could because she has given me a ton of other recipes like Jana’s Doo Dads. But this recipe is a secret and shall remain so.

Sigh.

A special place for TEO was all set up. And yes, we made her wear that and the garter.

Max was absolutely worn out by all his exertions with the party preparations. He needed a nap.

Much preparation and laughter went on. Shoe Queen took seriously her job of getting the punch all in order.

And much to the amazement of us all we finished right on time. The shower started at 1p, we were ready at 1p. Great timing.

TEO in all her finery.

The flower girl and the ring bearer. Emmy is the cutest thing and Avery felt he needed his special helmet to deal with all the women and estrogen in the room. Avery is one smart boy.

Help me, I am drowning in a sea of estrogen!

First we ate. I don’t have a pictures of that because…..

I was eating. And chatting. And eating.

Then it was on to the party games.

It had to do with toilet paper and making wedding dresses. I hate party games. I was conveniently occupied with taking pictures of said party games.

Oh darn.

In a move worthy of the best negotiator, TEO decided that the flower girl won the contest.

Then it was on to gifts, gifts, gifts!

Ohhhhhhhh, an afghan under which I can snuggle with TASiL!

And then the lingerie began to appear. And there was a bunch of it.

TASiL, if you are reading this (I doubt it but just in case) don’t look at the next series of pictures.

I am not sure that young children should have been watching this! Their young eyes scared for life viewing all the little, and I do mean little, things that TEO received.

OOOOOOOO…..awkward.

And then HHBL bailed and went into the other room, mumbling something about not being able to watch his daughter receive lingerie.

It might also have had something to do with the fact that the Cavs-Bulls game was on.

But mostly it was the whole “daughter – lingerie” thing.

And then, to end the shower we all gathered around TEO to pray for her. This was just wonderful and moving.

And of course, I was standing on a chair waiting for just the right picture. I did wait until Amy’s prayer was done.

But I have to be honest and say that it was because…….

I was using the “big” camera and that thing has a shutter noise that just can’t be hidden. Even I know that it might not be too cool to be snapping pictures while someone is praying for the bride to be who just happens to be your daughter.

I am smart like that.

And then we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up all the food that was left over. That is one thing about when Mimi cooks. We ALWAYS make enough food to feed an army. The worst thing in the world would be to run out of food.